JUAN PABLO BOHORQUEZ

My artwork stems from the co-opting of Hispanic and Catholic imagery and expressing my artistic vision through these traditional pictorial formulas. As the son of Colombian immigrants growing up in New York City in the 70's, my identity as an artist is heavily influenced by my Hispanic heritage and Catholic indoctrination. I grew up surrounded by bodega candles, church calendars and other cultural imagery that always featured the trinity, the Virgin Mary, bullfighters and Colombian patriotic heroes. Although traditional Catholic and cultural images from my youth clearly influence my pieces, I seek to question and challenge these by subscribing to an iconoclastic approach. I achieve this by substituting traditional icons with unexpected tropical figures. For example, cherubs are replaced by frogs, angels are replaced by toucans, "The Sacred Heart" is replaced by a tree and bulls are replaced with snails. With this approach, I seek to exemplify the freedom of expression and the ability..